The Devon School Grounds
Inside the Book
The War and its Impacts
Themes
The Movie VS The Book
100
On which river was 'the tree' not located?
The Naguamsett.
100
Who was playing the trumpet for the Winter Carnival in replacement of the school band?
Chet Douglass.
100
What was the term used to describe the post-war Leper?
Psycho.
100
Which theme does Finny seem to project when Gene comes into his home in Boston to confess about the truth? a) Irresponsibility b) Insecurity c) Jealousy d) Denial
d) Finny was in denial.
100
Name two things that happened in the book, but not in the movie.
Gene met Brinker's father, the boys shoveled snow from the railway tracks, Gene fought with Quakenbush in the Naguamsett river, Gene visited Leper at his home in Vermont, the Butt Room scene (where Gene went down for a smoke but didn't end up having one), etc.
200
What did the three dormitory buildings look like? a) Long, white buildings b) Similar red brick buildings c) Tall buildings with black siding d) Grand marble buildings
b) Similar red brick buildings.
200
Which teacher was observing Gene in the morning during his training for the '44 Olympics?
Mr. Ludsbury.
200
Why did Phineas not want to accept the fact that there was a war going on?
Because of his medical record and the fact that his leg was broken, Finny couldn't enlist - nobody wanted him, because he wasn't of use. Therefore, it was easier to accept that there was no war, rather than accept that he was crippled and couldn't fight in the war at all.
200
Which two themes could describe Gene's emotions when Leper confessed about knowing the truth about what happened in the tree at Leper's home in Vermont? a) Responsibility and denial b) Modesty and sentimentality c) Denial and insecurity d) Jealousy and hatred
c) Denial and insecurity
200
In the film, Leper gave Phineas, Gene and Brinker good-bye presents before he left for war. Name two of the gifts and who they were given to.
The snail house to Phineas, an alarm clock for Gene and Leper's hat to Brinker.
300
In which building were the marble stairs located?
The First Academy Building.
300
What was the type of irony surrounding Finny's death in Chapter 12?
Situational irony.
300
Name two of Leper's mental images that he experienced during his time at Basic Training camp.
A man's head on a woman's body, an arm of a chair as a human arm, the broom turning into a human leg, The Corporal's face shifting and then the Corporal himself turning into a woman.
300
IRRESPONSIBILITY: How could the snowball fight in Chapter 11 be considered as an irresponsible thing for Phineas to do?
During this time, Phineas' leg was still broken, so this could be considered irresponsible because there was always the chance that he could have broken his leg again during the fight.
300
Brinker's conclusions differ from the book to the movie. Compare what he ends up enlisting for in the book, versus what he ends up doing in the film.
In the book, Brinker ends up enlisting for the Coast Guard. However, in the movie, Brinker puts on Leper's hat and decides to go find the beaver dam that Leper found, and possibly the beaver.
400
Where was the Winter Carnival located/held in Chapter 10?
The park by the Naguamsett.
400
What seemed to trigger the fight between Gene and Quakenbush in the Naguamsett?
"Maimed." The fact that Quakenbush called Gene "maimed" triggered something inside of Gene that related to Finny, causing Gene to lash out. Only later did he realize this too, that Gene wasn't the one maimed, Finny was. "Who the hell are you anyway." It could also have been the fact that Gene wasn't as 'high class' as the other boys at the school, and everyone knew it. He was there because he made it, not because money let him there, and he was getting to a breaking point from being beaten and beaten. Maybe this was the final straw.
400
Why is the book's title relevant to the impacts of the war at the Devon School?
The book's title is "A Separate Peace." This is relevant to Devon School during the war because this is exactly what Devon School was - a separate 'peace' for everyone who happened to be there. The war didn't really effect anyone at Devon, and therefore didn't seem realistic. It was as if Devon had its own little piece of paradise, without war.
400
JEALOUSY: How could the incident with Finny and his pink shirt during the tea with Mr. and Mrs. Patch-Withers become a blossoming envy inside Gene?
The jealousy came from how Finny seemed to be able to get away with anything. He wore a pink shirt and his school belt to the tea, which was against the rules, and talked his way right out of it. It could also be the start of the jealousy that Finny could do things naturally, while Gene had to work for them.
400
Instead of shoveling snow from the railway, what did the boys do instead as "volunteering" in the film?
They went apple-picking in nearby orchards, because the harvesters are off to war.
500
Name four places that were visited off-campus by any character throughout the book.
The beach. (Finny and Gene) Leper's home in Vermont. (Gene) Finny's home on the Boston outskirts. (Gene) The railway of the Boston and Maine Line. (snow shoveling)
500
During Finny's first time in the infirmary right after the accident (Chapter 5) he had a feeling. What was it, and why didn't he follow through with it?
Finny's feeling was that Gene caused his fall from the tree, which was the truth. He didn't want to follow through with this feeling because Finny didn't want the think that Gene, his 'best pal', would actually do that to him.
500
Recite one of the two short poems that Brinker wrote about the war.
"The war is a bore", "Our chore is the core of the war."
500
INSECURITY: In Chapter 4, what sort of "rivalry" triggered Gene to jounce the limb?
The rivalry was that Finny didn't seem to want Gene to be head of class and 'better than him', or so Gene thought. Gene was thinking in his mind, that maybe if he caused something to happen to put Gene at the advantage, he could surpass this 'rivalry' and finally be able to be better than Phineas in something, even if it wasn't athletics.
500
What was a difference and what was a similarity about the beginnings of both the film and the book?
A similarity could be that they both seemed to be a flash of some sort, either from a certain place (a flashback seeing Devon again fifteen years later in the novel) or from a certain period in time (a flash forward to the middle of the movie at the very beginning, then flashing back to a certain about of days or months earlier.) A difference could be that in the beginning of the novel, he was fifteen years older than he was while at Devon and he was coming back, while in the movie the beginning took place while he was AT Devon to study. Another one could be the differences between flashing back and flashing forward. You could also point you that in the novel's beginning he was alone, while in the movie's beginning he was with buddies.
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